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The room devoted to the Orishas is known in lukumi as the igbodu. The pieces in the oru del igbodu are solely instrumental. Only bata drums are used. Ichoworo, bells threaded around the heads of the iya, accompany the drums. They fill the "empty spaces" in the rhythm. The rhythms are approximated semantically by certain brief phrases played by the iya and known as llames. Each one of these phrases evokes the idea of one of the Orishas and is a shorthand call to him or her. The llames are also used to call (llamar) the attention of the other drummers in the trio and indicate what piece is to be played next. Some of the llames are so brief that they only take up a quarter of a measure. The oru del igbodu is begun by playing the 23 llames in their order. This moyuba, prayer, is a liturgical warmup. All of the Orishas are rapidly invoked by their musical names. While the iya plays the series of llames, the itotele and the okonkolo repeat, either in unison or in counterpoint, a very simple rhythm of di-de,di-de,di-de....
|1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &| |S S |l okon. | O O |r | S S |l itot. | O M |r or: |1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6|1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 &| |S S |S S |l okon. | O O| O O |r | S S | S S |l itot. |O M |O M |r
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